To find resources (say an image) from within the screensaver, use NSBundle bundleForClass. So, to get atomsymbol.jpg you would do something likeNSBundle *bundle; NSString *path; bundle = [NSBundle bundleForClass: [self class]]; path = [bundle pathForResource: @"atomsymbol" ofType: @"jpg"]; image = [[NSImage alloc] initWithContentsOfFile: path];